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I have more confidence in Cousins w/Shanahan at the controls than I do in the Cowboys O-Line neutralizing disguised blitzes.

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Not in the OL, but in the QB? You bet.

Picking up blitzes is less about the quality of your line than it is in your QB's ability to recognize the hot route and get rid of the ball. Especially with the TEs we've got, and the strengths of Dez and our RBs in the passing game, there are lots of options for beating the blitz. Teams aren't going to make a living by short-covering our skill position players this season.

IMO once you become a runner you stay a runner. Not fair to the defense to go back and forth.

I bet there will some hits put on RO QBs this year that upset their coaches and fans that will not draw flags. If I were a DC I know I would instruct my players to hit the QB if they think he has the ball.

Picking up blitzes is less about the quality of your line than it is in your QB's ability to recognize the hot route and get rid of the ball. Especially with the TEs we've got, and the strengths of Dez and our RBs in the passing game, there are lots of options for beating the blitz. Teams aren't going to make a living by short-covering our skill position players this season.

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Sure they are.

These are the same WR's, RB's and TE's you had last year and your offense was unable to pick up blitzes. There is a reason Romo was peeling himself off the FedEx Field turf in week 17 and when there was a slight deviation from what he saw all game, he gave the game away.

Teams have made a living blitzing the Garret era Cowboys the last several years. Nothing has really changed. Perhaps Callahan calling plays will change things?

These are the same WR's, RB's and TE's you had last year and your offense was unable to pick up blitzes. There is a reason Romo was peeling himself off the FedEx Field turf in week 17 and when there was a slight deviation from what he saw all game, he gave the game away.

Teams have made a living blitzing the Garret era Cowboys the last several years. Nothing has really changed. Perhaps Callahan calling plays will change things?

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You act As if the foreskins have been winning for years. It is still the Redskins after all. Not really a team known for winning for many years now. Sure, they had an ok year last year but the losing has been the norm.

These are the same WR's, RB's and TE's you had last year and your offense was unable to pick up blitzes. There is a reason Romo was peeling himself off the FedEx Field turf in week 17 and when there was a slight deviation from what he saw all game, he gave the game away.

Teams have made a living blitzing the Garret era Cowboys the last several years. Nothing has really changed. Perhaps Callahan calling plays will change things?

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They really aren't, but I'd love to see you guys give it the old DC try.

We're remembering that week 17 game very differently, anyway. We had a bad blitz adjustment by Kevin Ogletree that cost us the early TD on the opening drive, but other than that, it was a tied game rolling into the end of the 3rd quarter. You say we have the same WRs, but remember Dez left that game with a back injury, and we've added Terrance Williams to that group in the offseason. Our RBs have changed (Randle for Felix Jones), TEs have changed (added Gavin Escobar). And the problems we had with blitz pickups last season had more to do with playing a 4th option at C making the line calls and two offseason additions at OG who each missed most of training camp due to injuries and an unexpected offseason surgery.

Teams haven't made much of a living off of the Dallas offense in the Garrett era, period. We're a fairly effective offensive team. Blitzing Tony Romo might be better than giving him time to pick you apart, mostly because it limits his ability to make the off-tackle pressure miss, but we can still beat the blitz. Play calling obviously isn't going to change that much.
Look, I'm glad you're excited about your team. I think you guys are going to be quite good this season, and I enjoy watching RGIII play, I really do. But, all things being equal, with healthy rosters and the fact that you guys have been standing still in the offseason while we have not, I'll take our roster and our coaches over yours any time.

Teams haven't made much of a living off of the Dallas offense in the Garrett era, period. We're a fairly effective offensive team. Blitzing Tony Romo might be better than giving him time to pick you apart, mostly because it limits his ability to make the off-tackle pressure miss, but we can still beat the blitz. Play calling obviously isn't going to change that much.
Look, I'm glad you're excited about your team. I think you guys are going to be quite good this season, and I enjoy watching RGIII play, I really do. But, all things being equal, with healthy rosters and the fact that you guys have been standing still in the offseason while we have not, I'll take our roster and our coaches over yours any time.

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Shanahan has won 167 games and two super bowls. Garrett 21 wins, and has never been to the playoffs. Our OC was the innovator behind the read option/pistol offense that is giving defenses fits right now. Callahan failed utterly everywhere he has been after getting destroyed in the Super Bowl 11 years ago--and has not held a head coaching position in the NFL since. He was a joke at Nebraska. Kiffin has a great record...but so did Al Saunders...and we saw how that worked out.

And your roster was still constructed by Jerry Jones.

Lets not act like the Redskins were injury free. We lost Merriweather, Orakpo and Carriker by the 2nd week of the season. And we did this with $13 million less cap space.

They really aren't, but I'd love to see you guys give it the old DC try.

We're remembering that week 17 game very differently, anyway. We had a bad blitz adjustment by Kevin Ogletree that cost us the early TD on the opening drive, but other than that, it was a tied game rolling into the end of the 3rd quarter. You say we have the same WRs, but remember Dez left that game with a back injury, and we've added Terrance Williams to that group in the offseason. Our RBs have changed (Randle for Felix Jones), TEs have changed (added Gavin Escobar). And the problems we had with blitz pickups last season had more to do with playing a 4th option at C making the line calls and two offseason additions at OG who each missed most of training camp due to injuries and an unexpected offseason surgery.

Teams haven't made much of a living off of the Dallas offense in the Garrett era, period. We're a fairly effective offensive team. Blitzing Tony Romo might be better than giving him time to pick you apart, mostly because it limits his ability to make the off-tackle pressure miss, but we can still beat the blitz. Play calling obviously isn't going to change that much.
Look, I'm glad you're excited about your team. I think you guys are going to be quite good this season, and I enjoy watching RGIII play, I really do. But, all things being equal, with healthy rosters and the fact that you guys have been standing still in the offseason while we have not, I'll take our roster and our coaches over yours any time.

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Sure teams have. Look at how quickly the Cowboys would fall behind last year before making a 4th quarter run to make the game close.

You can see at that link that the Cowboys had a propensity to fall behind week by week (23-0 and 28-3 pop out) and then were forced to pass to make it a close game. There are terrific skill talents on the team, but nothing consistant that shows an improvement over 8-8.

If you want to use rookies that were just drafted as "improving" the roster, be my guest. I'll be happy to do the same thing with our draft class and improving the secondary in particular.

I am glad you feel the Cowboys are deeper and better, but looking at it objectively you are bringing back the same cast, a year older, and counting on the contributions of unproven rookies. Your D system has changed and nobody knows how that will work out, yet.

Right now I certainly take our coaches (Shanahans vs Garret/Calahan on O in particular and the read option vs Kiffin) and Haslett has shown the ability to slow down the Cowboys in 5 of the 6 games he has faced the Cowboys while DC for the Redskins. The gameplan in week 17 was brilliant and Callahan/Garret had no adjustment to counter it, which led to Romo's blunder late in the game.

I expect, as always, 2 very good close games. I also really like our chances in those games, because the Redskins are the better team.

You can see at that link that the Cowboys had a propensity to fall behind week by week (23-0 and 28-3 pop out) and then were forced to pass to make it a close game. There are terrific skill talents on the team, but nothing consistant that shows an improvement over 8-8.

If you want to use rookies that were just drafted as "improving" the roster, be my guest. I'll be happy to do the same thing with our draft class and improving the secondary in particular.

I am glad you feel the Cowboys are deeper and better, but looking at it objectively you are bringing back the same cast, a year older, and counting on the contributions of unproven rookies. Your D system has changed and nobody knows how that will work out, yet.

Right now I certainly take our coaches (Shanahans vs Garret/Calahan on O in particular and the read option vs Kiffin) and Haslett has shown the ability to slow down the Cowboys in 5 of the 6 games he has faced the Cowboys while DC for the Redskins. The gameplan in week 17 was brilliant and Callahan/Garret had no adjustment to counter it, which led to Romo's blunder late in the game.

I expect, as always, 2 very good close games. I also really like our chances in those games, because the Redskins are the better team.

What? Defenses don't want to punish Tom Brady? How the hell do you think the Giants won those 2 Superbowls?

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You have to have watched the Cowboys to have a better understanding of what happened to us last season. The constant juggling of the OL, and the signing and starting of our 4th C the week the season started led to a lot of offensive miscommunications early in the season. At the same time, if you look at the turnover numbers on offense, you can see where the unit had difficulty with adjustments, leading to a lot of passing game turnovers in those early games. These were mostly either blown protections or blown site adjustments by the receivers (primarily Dez and Ogletree). Dez straightened out by the midpoint of the season, and KO is no longer on the team.

Our defense kept us in games, though, yes, we were playing from behind often because of the slow offensive starts and the turnovers. As injuries accumulated up the middle (DT, ILB, ILB, S, S and then Demarcus Ware playing hobbled), our defense gradually became porous just as our offense sorted out its OL issues and started playing well. We had a solid 5 game stretch where we were putting our best football together, but unraveled in week 16 and 17.

We played a lot better football later in games as Romo and Garrett did a better with adjustments, especially later in the season when Dez faced a string of waker DBs and was absolutely on fire.

We're unlikely to have multiple sustained injuries to starters who play the same positions this season. Both in terms of the overall number of injuries and in terms of the position groups that were decimated. It's possible that we do, but we're more likely to regress to the mean, which means our adequate second string players will be getting snaps instead of guys like Eric Frampton and Brady Poppinga coming in off the street and playing significant snaps that week. With a normal injury distribution last season, I don't think there's any way you guys win that game in week 17, on your own field. I know you had your share of injuries, too, and I don't consider them an excuse for losing, but I do think having those players back on the field weighs heavily when comparing how the teams are likely to play this coming season.

As for the rookies, yeah, I think Frederick is pretty clearly an upgrade over Ryan Cook--a player who was going to be a Dolphins camp casualty the week before we made him our starter. I'll take Terrence Williams over Kevin Ogletree, too, and so would most, I think. The same goes with Gavin Escobar over John Phillips. You guys have your own players you've added, though you were short your most important pick. I like what you did at S (both picks).

As for coaching, you certainly have more skins on the wall than we do, so that's an area where I can readily understand you preferring your group to ours. I don't, though. I think Shanahan made one of the worst coaching decisions I've ever seen keeping your injured franchise on the field in that playoff game. We'll see how much it affects you guys down the line (glad to hear RGIII is looking good so far, for what that's worth, btw). Also, he looks like a human rat, which I find really disconcerting. I'll admit that's not a very good argument. I'll just say that I prefer the way we're building our team from top to bottom and leave it at that. We're a better team, deeper, and with a full complement of future picks and a recent track record of making good coaching decisions. You have a rookie phenom QB and a potent running offense. We'll see which one of us ends up being more successful.

Never heard me say that. You sound and act like one of those national media talking heads types. "I heard from a friends neighbors cousin .. "

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Never said you did. What I did say, was that you guys--meaning, more than just one CZ member--have been claiming for years that Skins fans are always here every offseason proclaiming themselves the next SB champs...and that now I'm seeing the exact opposite being said: that we were never here--until now. That's why I said you guys--the collective Cowboys smacktalkers here on CZ lol--need to get your talking points straight. You're contradicting each other in the effort to smack talk Skins fans.

You can see at that link that the Cowboys had a propensity to fall behind week by week (23-0 and 28-3 pop out) and then were forced to pass to make it a close game. There are terrific skill talents on the team, but nothing consistant that shows an improvement over 8-8.

If you want to use rookies that were just drafted as "improving" the roster, be my guest. I'll be happy to do the same thing with our draft class and improving the secondary in particular.

I am glad you feel the Cowboys are deeper and better, but looking at it objectively you are bringing back the same cast, a year older, and counting on the contributions of unproven rookies. Your D system has changed and nobody knows how that will work out, yet.

Right now I certainly take our coaches (Shanahans vs Garret/Calahan on O in particular and the read option vs Kiffin) and Haslett has shown the ability to slow down the Cowboys in 5 of the 6 games he has faced the Cowboys while DC for the Redskins. The gameplan in week 17 was brilliant and Callahan/Garret had no adjustment to counter it, which led to Romo's blunder late in the game.

I expect, as always, 2 very good close games. I also really like our chances in those games, because the Redskins are the better team.

What? Defenses don't want to punish Tom Brady? How the hell do you think the Giants won those 2 Superbowls?

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One good season and you turn into the biggest smacktalker of almost troll like preportions. LOL Keep it up though, makes for a epic fall.

One good season and you turn into the biggest smacktalker of almost troll like preportions. LOL Keep it up though, makes for a epic fall.

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It's not just one good season. It's the hope, after years of futility, that a player like Griffin brings. We actually have a young, competent, potentially potent offense. When was the last time you said that about the Redskins?